A guy from the Great Lakes state who loves watching & reviewing movies.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

I Am Not Your Negro

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"If any white man in the world says, 'Give me liberty or give me death,' the entire white world applauds. When a black man says exactly the same thing, he is judged a criminal & treated like one & everything possible is done to make an example of him so there won't be any more like him." That's a sadly true quote from James Baldwin in I Am Not Your Negro, one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. The documentary is based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the documentary takes a look at the history of racism in the United States through Baldwin's eyes. It also takes a look at the assassinations of 3 prominent civil rights leaders: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Malcolm X; & Medgar Evers.

The documentary is spectacular. Raoul Peck's direction is phenomenal. James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript is brought to amazing heights here. This is the best documentary of 2016.